TD Bank, Ross Reportedly Bid for BankUnited

Updated from Tuesday, May 19

TD Bank Financial, a unit of Toronto-Dominion Bank(TD Quote), and a consortium of private-equity firms that includes billionaire investor Wilbur Ross have entered bids to acquire BankUnited Financial(BKUNA Quote), a report says.

Offers to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. for the struggling Coral Gables, Fla., bank were due before noon EDT on Tuesday.

The FDIC warned BankUnited it may be forced into receivership if it is unable to raise up to $1 billion in fresh capital to cover escalating losses or find an acquirer, according to a regulatory filing earlier this month. The bank hasn't filed earnings statements for the past two quarters, but said it expects a second-quarter loss of $443 million, up from a loss of $66 million a year earlier.

The bid deadline could be extended as regulators seek more buyers, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing a person familiar with the bidding. The bid deadline already has been extended several times.

The consortium of private-equity firms includes Carlyle Group, Blackstone Group and Centerbridge Partners, the Journal reports. Ross hired John Kanas, the former CEO of North Fork Bancorp, to help run BankUnited if the deal succeeds.

J.C. Flowers & Co., the firm run by billionaire private-equity veteran J. Christopher Flowers, also was rumored to be interested in participating in a BankUnited deal, but a person familiar with one of the potential acquirers said Flowers hasn't entered a bid, the Journal reports.